The Anniversary
by Chris Fitzsimmons
Summary: Joe and Iola and Frank and Nancy are taking romantic anniversary trips but of course things do not go according to plan. This story follows Organized Crime, so if you have not read that, please do so.
1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note: After a long wait (long story) here is the 5****th**** story in my "Casefiles Continued" series. This follows **_**Organized Crime**_** so some things may not make sense if you do not read the rest of my stories first.**

"I think this it," Joe said as he turned into a winding gravel driveway. The tires of his custom 1970 Pontiac GTO Judge crunched the gravel as he slowly made his way up the driveway.

"Finally," his wife, Iola sighed with relief, "this drive took forever!"

The couple rounded the last turn in the driveway and pulled up in front of a large log building. Joe turned off the car. "I will check us in and come back for you and the bags," he said as he climbed out of the yellow sports car.

"Sounds good," Iola said as she climbed out of the car to stretch her legs after the long drive.

Joe hurried into the lobby of the rustic bed and breakfast. A few minutes later he hurried back out of the building and to the car. He held up a set of keys. "The clerk says that our cabin is further down the driveway a ways," he informed his wife. "We are lucky that we were not any later or they might have given our room away. They have some big convention going on and are pretty booked."

It was Joe and Iola Hardy's one year anniversary and they had decided to take a long romantic weekend away at a historic bed and breakfast in the woods of northern Wisconsin.

XXXXX

At the same time that Joe and Iola were unloading their luggage into their rustic cabin, Frank Hardy was trying to shove a large suitcase into the trunk of his own sports car. The luggage was not cooperating with the cramped space of the Challenger's trunk. "I will never understand why you women always have to pack so much," he said in exasperation to his wife, Nancy. "It's only one weekend."

"Well, since it is a romantic anniversary getaway," Nancy replied with a mischievous twinkle in her eye, "there are some extra 'items' in there." She winked at Frank and his eyes widened. He renewed his efforts to shove the bag into the trunk and after a few more tries he managed to get it in.

"Ready to go?" he asked as he opened Nancy's door for her.

"I think so," she answered as she climbed into the passenger seat of Frank's car.

"Excellent," he responded as he shut the door and hurried to hop into the driver's seat. He started the car and the tires squealed as he sped away from the house.

"In a little bit of a hurry?" Nancy teased.

"You had better believe it!" Frank replied. "I can't wait to see what's in that suitcase!"

Frank and Nancy Hardy were celebrating their one year anniversary with a trip to Indiana to stay in a fancy, romantic resort. They had gotten a later start than Joe and Iola, but thankfully it was a shorter drive.

Several hours later, the couple pulled into the parking lot. "Wow," Nancy said in awe, "this place is nice."

"Only the best for my beautiful wife," Frank said as he parked the car.

"Aww," Nancy replied as she leaned over to give him a kiss.

The couple climbed out of the Challenger and Frank retrieved the luggage from the trunk. Together they walked into the lobby of the fancy hotel. Frank checked in at the desk and received their room keys. As they turned to walk away from the desk, Frank saw a man sitting in a chair staring at him over his newspaper. When the man saw Frank looking at him, he quickly looked back at his paper. Frank had an uneasy feeling come over him but he quickly shook it off. _Relax,_ he told himself, _you are on vacation. There is nothing going on here_.

"Come on, slowpoke," Nancy said as she walked down the hall. "I want to see the room."

"I'm coming," Frank replied as he hurried after his wife, the uneasy feeling forgotten.

XXXXX

"Are you ready to go to dinner?" Joe asked Iola.

"Almost," she replied, "but I think that I'm going to take a shower first."

"Why?" Joe asked. "You will just get sweaty again after dinner." He gave his wife a mischievous grin.

"Joseph Hardy!" Iola replied with feigned shock. "You are a naughty boy!" She retreated into the bathroom to shower.

Joe chuckled and sat down on the couch. He flipped on the television while he waited.

Thirty minutes later the couple finally walked into the large dining room in the main building. As the waiter showed them to their seats, Joe noticed a large group of people seated around several large tables at the other end of the dining room. They were all dressed in suits and Joe did not see a single smile in the whole group. Joe's instincts were immediately on edge. What was going on with the somber group? They did not look like any convention group that he had ever seen.

XXXXX

"I'm going to go fill the ice bucket," Frank called to his wife as he opened the door to their room.

"Okay," Nancy replied from the shower. "Hurry back; I'm about to open up my suitcase."

Frank shut the door and hurried down the hall to the ice machine. As he rounded the corner by their room, he collided with another man in the hall. Frank started to apologize and then he noticed that it was the man from the lobby that had made him uneasy. What was this man doing so close to their room?

**A/N: What is going on here? Is Frank in danger? Is Joe in danger? Are they both in danger? Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2

THREE DAYS LATER:

"That was really a great weekend," Iola said to Joe as they loaded the luggage into the car. "Thanks for bringing me." She put her arms around Joe's neck and kissed him.

"Of course," Joe replied. "Why wouldn't I want a weekend away with the most beautiful woman in the world? All though I could have done without the creepy undertaker's convention."

"I agree," Iola shuddered. "I didn't even know that they had such a thing. Don't those guys ever smile?"

"I guess not," Joe replied as they climbed into the car. Moments later, they were driving down the gravel driveway on their way home.

The next morning, Joe walked into the Network headquarters where he worked whistling happily.

"I take it you enjoyed your weekend off?" his sister, Brandi, asked.

"Oh, immensely," Joe said with a wink.

"Gross," Brandi recoiled. "TMI."

Joe chuckled. "Where's Frank?"

"He hasn't come in yet," Brandi replied.

Joe frowned. "That's weird, he always beats me in." He checked his watch, "Yep, I'm right on time as usual which means that he should have been here half an hour ago."

"Maybe he had too much fun on his honeymoon and is sleeping in," Brandi suggested.

"Maybe," Joe replied, "But that doesn't sound like Frank. I'll give him a call." He dialed Frank's number on his cell phone. It went straight to voicemail. "Where are you, Frank?" he said. "You're late for work." Joe ended the call with another frown on his face. He tried Nancy's phone and got the same result. "Pull up the security log from their house," he told Brandi.

"Sure," Brandi replied, also beginning to be worried for her little brother and his wife. She entered commands into her computer workstation. "It doesn't look like anything has happened since they activated the alarm when they left on Friday," she told her brother after reading the log.

"Can you get me the number for the hotel where they were staying?" Joe asked. A few more keystrokes and Brandi rattled off the phone number for Frank and Nancy's hotel. Joe dialed the number and the line rang and rang.

Finally, when Joe was about to give up, a male voice answered. "Hello?"

Joe was startled at the abrupt greeting, but he replied, "Is this the French Lick Resort?"

"Yes it is. Who is this?"

"My name is Joe Hardy. My brother did not show up for work today and I wanted to check to make sure that he had checked out."

"Mr. Hardy, this is Deputy Jackson with the Orange County Indiana Sheriff's Department. It appears that everybody who stayed at the resort this weekend has disappeared!" Joe was speechless for a moment. "Are you still there Mr. Hardy?"

Joe snapped to his senses. "I'm on my way," he said quickly.

"I do not think…" the deputy started to reply but Joe had already hung up.

Joe quickly dialed Agent Luck's number. "Have them get the chopper ready," he instructed. "I want a full mobilization package loaded."

"Yes, sir," Frank and Joe's second in command at the Network responded.

Joe quickly explained what was going on to Brandi. "I'm coming with you," she replied as she stood up from her desk and strapped her gun on.

The siblings hopped into Joe's car and he floored the accelerator as they pulled out of the Network garage. The GTO fishtailed as it sped onto the road. Joe expertly straightened it out and the car raced towards the airport.

A few short minutes later, the yellow sports car screeched to a stop in the airport parking lot. Brandi and Joe jumped from it, each carrying a duffel bag. They rushed to the helicopter pad where the chopper was already warming up. A Network agent snapped to attention and saluted Joe as they ran up. "It's all ready to go, sir," he stated.

"Thanks, John," Joe said as he opened the door to the helicopter and threw his duffel in.

As Joe closed the door, the agent handed him a clipboard. "Here is your flight plan."

Joe tossed another hurried thank you to the agent and hopped into the pilot's seat of the chopper. He looked to the copilot's seat where Brandi was just finishing fastening her seat belt. She gave him a thumbs up to indicate that she was ready to go, and Joe lifted the helicopter into the air.

A short time later, the Network chopper was hovering over the resort where Frank and Nancy had been staying. The grounds were covered with all kinds of police officers and federal agents and their vehicles. Brandi pointed to a lawn that was clear and Joe nodded as he maneuvered the chopper to land. The chopper landed on the lawn. As the rotors slowed to a stop, a police officer ran towards them.

"You can't land here!" he yelled at them.

Joe flashed his badge. "Special Agent Hardy, FBI," he stated. "Who is in charge here?"

"That would be Agent Wallace of the Secret Service," the officer replied.

"Where is he?" Joe demanded.

"_She_ is in the lobby," the officer replied. "That's where the command center is set up."

"Why is the Secret Service involved?" Joe asked.

The officer shrugged. "They aren't saying," he replied. "I have no idea."

Joe and Brandi hurried towards the lobby of the large hotel. A deputy met them at the door. "Where is Agent Wallace?" Joe asked.

"Over there," the deputy pointed to where a man and a woman in a suit were arguing by a table.

Joe and Brandi hurried over. Just as they arrived, the man stormed off. "Agent Wallace?" Joe asked.

"Yes? Who are you?" the attractive woman replied, her eyes flashing with leftover anger from her recent argument.

"Special Agent Joe Hardy, and this is my sister, Special Agent Brandi Hardy."

"Hardy," the woman mused, "why does that sound familiar?" She shuffled some papers on the table beside her. "You related to Frank and Nancy Hardy?"

"My brother and his wife," Joe confirmed. "What happened here?"

"Beats me," the agent said in exasperation. "The local police got several missing persons reports for people that were staying here but when they showed up to check on them, there was nobody here."

"How does that concern the Secret Service?" Brandi asked.

"I'm afraid that's 'need to know,'" Agent Wallace replied.

"And I'm afraid that is not going to cut it," Joe returned. "You need to loop us in."

"That is not going to happen," Agent Wallace replied. "In fact, I do not want you anywhere near this investigation. You are too emotionally involved. I need you to leave now."

"That is not going to happen," Joe replied firmly. "We are staying."

"No, you're not," Agent Wallace said as she motioned to several agents standing near. "Please escort the Agents Hardy off of the premises," she ordered.

The agents each grabbed one of Brandi and Joe's arms and started dragging them to the exit.


	3. Chapter 3

"You are going to regret this," Joe promised Agent Wallace as he was dragged out of the hotel. The Secret Service agents dragged the two Hardys outside of the police perimeter and instructed the officers there not to let them back in.

"Now what?" Brandi asked her brother as they stood by their helicopter frustrated.

Joe smiled. "If they think they are going to get rid of us that easily, then they are mistaken." He pulled out his phone and hit a speed dial number.

"What updates do you have?" the Gray Man asked after one ring.

"Nothing," Joe replied, "for some reason the Secret Service is in charge and they don't want us anywhere near it."

Joe could hear the scowl on the Gray Man's face when he replied, "That's problematic. I will call you back in a few minutes." Joe ended the call and grinned at his sister. "We aren't out of this yet." Exactly five minutes later, Joe's phone rang. He frowned when he saw that the caller ID was restricted. "Hello."

"Agent Wallace, please," a professional sounding female voice said.

"One moment, please," Joe said as he walked towards the police barricade. "I have a phone call for Agent Wallace," he told the officer at the barricade.

The officer spoke into his radio a few moments later Agent Wallace came storming out of the front of the hotel. "What now?" she snapped at Joe.

"I have a phone call for you," Joe replied sweetly as he placed his phone on speaker phone mode.

"This is Agent Cordelia Wallace," she said briskly. "Who is this?"

"Please hold for the President of the United States," the female voice on the other end of the phone said.

Everyone within hearing distance of the phone was shocked when they heard this. A moment later the line clicked and the President said, "Can you hear me, Agent Wallace?"

Agent Wallace gulped, "Yes, Mr. President."

"Good. Listen closely because I am only going to say this once. Agent Hardy will be taking over this investigation. Please brief him fully and then relinquish command to him and his team."

"But, sir," Agent Wallace protested, "he doesn't even have a team here."

"My understanding is that they are on the way," the President replied. "And I suggest you follow orders unless you want to be demoted to working credit card fraud in North Dakota. Do you understand me?"

"Yes, Mr. President," Agent Wallace replied through gritted teeth. The call ended and Agent Wallace handed Joe back his phone. "Follow me," she told Joe, clearly irritated. "I will brief you on what is going on."

"One minute," Joe replied, "I have to make a call quickly."

"Suit yourself," Wallace replied as she stormed back inside.

Joe dialed the Gray Man's number again. "That was impressive," he said when the head of the Network came on the line. "Was that actually the president?"

"Of course," Joe's boss replied. "You cannot fake things like that or it comes back to bite you in the end."

"He said a team was on the way?"

"That's correct," the Gray Man answered. "After I talked to the president, I had your team from Chicago mobilize. They should arrive within the hour."

"Thank you, sir," Joe responded.

"Just get all of those people back. I wouldn't have overridden Agent Wallace if I was not absolutely confident that you were the best people for the job."

"I will, sir," Joe told him as he ended the call. "Let's go find out why Agent Wallace is here to begin with," Joe told his sister as he started towards the hotel.

"Sounds good to me," Brandi replied as she followed him.

"So what is going on here?" Joe asked as they walked up to Agent Wallace. "Why is the Secret Service involved?"

"Oh, your little friends didn't tell you?" Agent Wallace smirked.

"One more snide comment like that, and I call the president back," Joe warned, holding up his phone.

"Fine," Agent Wallace sighed. "We are here because among the people that are missing are the vice president and his wife as well as their security detail!"

**A/N: I know that this is a short chapter, but that seemed like too good of a stopping place to let go to waste, so I stopped it there. Review and let me know what you think, good or bad.**


	4. Chapter 4

Joe and Brandi stared at Agent Wallace in shock. "You are telling me that you guys managed to lose the vice president, his wife, and a whole Secret Service security detail?" Joe asked incredulously.

Agent Wallace winced. "Unfortunately, that is exactly what I am telling you."

"What leads do you have?"

"Absolutely nothing," Agent Wallace replied. "Fingerprints and DNA would be useless from such a popular hotel. As far as we can tell, everybody's cell phone was left here at the hotel. From the looks of it, everybody just vanished."

"What about security cameras?" Brandi asked.

"The recording device is missing."

"How many people are missing?" Joe asked.

"As far as we can tell, there are 109 guests, 30 staff members, and 12 Secret Service agents unaccounted for," Agent Wallace answered.

"Are all of their vehicles accounted for?"

"As far as we can tell."

"Any evidence of foul play?"

"No. We haven't seen a single bullet hole, bullet casing, or drop of blood anywhere."

"Have you begun background checks on all of the missing people?" Brandi asked. "It would be hard to kidnap this many people without some inside help."

"Not yet," Agent Wallace. "We were going to start that when you showed up."

"Anything else pertinent that you can think of?" Joe asked.

"No, sir," Agent Wallace replied. "You now know everything that we do. What are your orders?"

"Have some agents bring in the cases out of our chopper," Joe replied. "My team will set them up and begin the background checks when they arrive. While we are waiting, we want to take our own look around."

"Good luck," Agent Wallace replied. "Here is a master key." She handed him a white plastic card.

Agent Wallace stepped away to pass on Joe's orders and Brandi asked, "What are we looking for?"

"I'm not sure exactly," Joe confessed, "but knowing Frank and Nancy, I'm sure they left some clues somewhere. Let's start with their room." He looked at the guest list on Agent Wallace's table. "Room 225. Let's go."

The siblings hurried to the stair case and hurried upstairs. They found room 225 and Joe scanned the key card to open the door. They walked into the room and took a look around. There was a towel on the floor of the bathroom and Frank and Nancy's suitcases were sitting on the floor at the foot of the king size bed. The sheets in the bed were askew but other than that, the room looked untouched. "I guess the suitcases are the place to look," Joe said after a moment. He opened Frank's suitcase and began to rifle through it. "That's what I was afraid of," he said after a moment.

"What?" Brandi asked.

Joe held up a gun. "Frank's gun is in here. Nothing else unusual though. Why don't you look through Nancy's bag?"

Brandi opened Nancy's large suitcase. "Wow, Nancy," Brandi whistled.

"What?" Joe asked as he peeked over his sister's shoulder. He saw the large pile of lingerie lying in the suitcase and quickly looked away. "Aw, man," he complained, "I can never unsee that!"

"You and me both," Brandi agreed as she carefully searched the bag. After another few moments she held up Nancy's gun. "She's unarmed too."

"Well that's unfortunate."

"Maybe we should find their cell phones," Brandi suggested.

"That might be easier said than done," Joe replied. "Their phones went straight to voicemail when I called so that means that they are off. They probably died from not being charged all weekend."

"Well, they aren't in the room," Brandi answered, "so where else would Frank and Nancy have been?"

"Maybe the dining room?" Joe pondered.

"Sounds like a good place to start to me."

The siblings hurried back down the stairs. "Where are the phones that you've collected?" Joe asked Agent Wallace as they reentered the lobby.

"Over here," she replied, pointing to a plastic bin on one of the tables, "but they won't do you any good."

"Why's that?"

"They smashed them all."

"Well that sucks," Joe said.

"What about Frank's car?" Brandi whispered to Joe. "Doesn't he have a camera in that?"

"You're right," Joe beamed. "And he has his phone back up to it automatically, so if he put anything on his phone, it is probably in the car's memory." Frank's custom Dodge Challenger had all kinds of expensive gadgets and upgrades in it.

The siblings hurried out towards the hotel's parking lot. After a few seconds they spotted Frank's Challenger and hurried over to it. Brandi tried the door handle. "It's locked," she announced.

"Not so fast," Joe replied. He hit a button on his phone and the siblings heard the doors unlocking. "I have remote controls for Frank's car just in case of an emergency. I think this qualifies."

"I agree," Brandi said. They both climbed into the car. Brandi pushed a button. "Display security footage," she ordered the car. Moments later they could see footage from all four sides of the car projected onto the windshield.

"I don't see anything," Joe said. "Fast forward," he ordered the car.

"I want to know how they moved 150 people without the neighbors noticing," Brandi said as they watched the rapidly moving footage.

"I have the feeling that we are about to find out," Joe replied.

The two siblings watched the footage in silence, hoping to find some clue as to what had happened at the hotel. After several minutes of study Brandi suddenly said, "Slow it down. I think something is happening."

"You're right," Joe replied as he slowed the footage. They both saw about ten armed men wearing black fatigues rushing around the large open lawn of the hotel. What they saw next shocked them both into speechlessness.


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Thank you for all of the kind reviews! Based on some of them though, I suspect that some of you might not have read the other books in my series. I strongly suggest you do so before you read this one. Anyway, here's the next chapter. Enjoy!**

"That's huge," Brandi breathed.

"I've never seen anything like it," Joe agreed.

On the screen before them was a massive VTOL, or vertical takeoff and landing plane. The plane had landed on the front lawn of the hotel. A few minutes later the plane was gone leaving no trace.

"It's too bad that it blocked the whole screen so we couldn't see what else was going on," Brandi commented.

"Well at least now we have a pretty good idea of where everybody went," Joe replied. "I'll turn this video over to tech for analysis. Maybe they can figure out who those guys were."

"Especially since I have never seen a VTOL that large," Brandi said. "I have no idea who could have built something so massive without us hearing about it."

"The Russians maybe," Joe answered. "They enjoy making very large planes."

"Well let's go," Brandi said, looking at her watch. "It's about time for the rest of the team to arrive."

Right on cue, the siblings heard the sound of large rotors as a very large helicopter landed beside their smaller one on the lawn of the hotel. Joe and Brandi hurried over as the chopper powered down and the large sliding door on the side opened. Out of the side hopped Agent Sage Jameson, Agent Eric Jacobs, Agent Faith Luck, Phil Cohen, and Illinois State Trooper George Fayne. Agents Jameson, Jacobs, and Luck were Network agents under Frank and Joe's command at their facility in Chicago. Phil Cohen was a good friend of the Hardy's, a computer genius, and a sometimes contractor for the Network. Trooper Fayne was one of Nancy's best friends from childhood.

"I see that the Gray Man pulled out all of the stops on this one," Joe said as he greeted the team. "What are you doing here, George?"

"When I heard what had happened," she answered, "there was no way that I was going to let them leave without me."

"Fair enough," Joe answered. "Follow me inside," he continued. "I will brief you on the way." The team hurried inside as Joe told them everything that they knew.

"What are our assignments, sir?" the ever businesslike Sage Jameson asked.

"You and Eric search the building and grounds again to make sure the locals didn't miss anything," Joe began. "Faith, you liaise with the locals for us. We didn't exactly get off on the right foot. Phil, I want you to get the mobile command center set up and then I want you to analyze the video from Frank's car to see if you can determine who we are looking for and any other clues. George, you can help Phil for now until we have more to go on."

"Yes, sir," the team chorused as they hurried off to complete their assignments.

"What about us?" Brandi asked.

"We are going to go find Agent Wallace and see if the kidnappers have made any demands," Joe responded. The siblings glanced around the spacious lobby and found Agent Wallace sitting on a chair in the seating area studying a file. They hurried over. "Agent Wallace," Joe addressed her.

"Yes?" she answered as she snapped the file shut. The siblings saw that the outside of the file was stamped "Top Secret."

Joe frowned but asked, "Have the kidnappers made any demands? Do we have any idea what they want?"

"No," the Secret Service Agent responded. "As near as we can tell, they took everybody about 46 hours ago but we have yet to hear a peep from them."

"46 and a half hours to be exact," Joe answered. At Agent Wallace's questioning look, he added, "We found security footage of part of the outside."

"Was there anything relevant on it?" she asked excitedly.

"We saw a huge VTOL land on the front lawn about 46 and a half hours ago, but it blocked the view of the camera so we couldn't see much after that. There were a bunch of guys in tactical gear running around before it landed, but that didn't tell us much."

"A VTOL large enough for more than 150 people?" Agent Wallace asked in disbelief.

"Easily," Joe replied.

"The thing looked like a freaking 747," Brandi added.

"Sounds like something the Russians would come up with," Agent Wallace mused.

"That's what I said," Joe laughed. "Great minds and all that."

"But what would the Russians want with all of those people?" Brandi asked.

"If it is the Russians," Joe cautioned, "they probably just wanted the vice president and they took everybody else to eliminate witnesses and maybe add leverage."

"But what would the Russians want with the vice president?" Brandi asked, confused. "He doesn't have any real power. About the only thing that he would be good for is ransom or leverage, but that would require them to make demands."

"That's a good point," Joe mused. "The vice president isn't a very likely target."

Agent Wallace shuffled and looked uncomfortable,

Joe did not miss a beat. "What do you know?" he asked. "You know something that we don't."

"I can't…" the Secret Service agent began.

"Let me stop you right there," Joe interrupted. "We have a higher security clearance than you have ever dreamed of. As you know, the President himself vouched for us. So if you are hiding something, whether or not you think that it would help the investigation, I suggest you spill it now."

"Fine," Agent Wallace sighed. She plopped the file that she had been holding down on a coffee table and flipped it open. "I was just recently briefed on this myself. You were right, _most_ vice presidents do not do much and do not have much power."

"You said 'most,'" Joe pointed out.

"Exactly," Agent Wallace answered. "Vice President Williams is not most vice presidents. He is much more involved."

"What do you mean?" Brandi wanted to know.

"This file is a list of all of the responsibilities that the VP has," Agent Wallace said. "It is more than enough reason for someone to want to abduct him."

Joe and Brandi bent over the list and began to read through it. "There," Brandi pointed after a few moments of silence. "That looks like motive to me."

"You're right," Joe agreed. "I think we have a lead. And I don't think that it's the Russians."


	6. Chapter 6

"Vice President Williams is in charge of the Network?" Brandi asked in disbelief. "I would have never guessed that."

"What is the Network?" Agent Wallace asked, confused. "It sounds pretty benign to me."

Joe laughed. "The Network is exactly the opposite of benign," he told her. "There is a reason that you haven't heard about it before. Its mere existence is classified at the highest levels."

"What is it?" Agent Wallace asked again.

"Let's just say that the Network makes the CIA look like a bunch of children," Joe replied.

"How do you know about it then?" Agent Wallace responded.

Joe cleared his throat. "Let's just say that we have some experience and leave it at that," he answered.

"One thing is for sure," Brandi put in, "whoever has the vice president now is a huge threat to national security."

"And it is more than likely that they are American," Joe added. "It is unlikely that a foreign country would know about the existence of the Network, let alone that the vice president heads it. Ladies, this was an inside job."

"But who would have the motive and resources to pull this off?" Agent Wallace asked.

"That is the million dollar question," Joe agreed. "Let's see how Phil and George are doing." The three hurried over to where Phil and George sat surrounded by several tables covered in computer equipment. "How's it going, Phil?" he asked.

"We just finished booting up," Phil answered as he logged into the computer array.

"Wow," Agent Wallace said in amazement as she looked at the equipment. "The Secret Service has nothing like this."

"That could be because they don't have the best computer genius in the world working for them," Joe grinned as he slapped Phil on the back.

Phil just shook his head as he remotely logged into Frank's Challenger and downloaded the security footage onto his system. "Let's see what we have here," he said as he began to study the footage in slow motion, enhancing the resolution as he went. After a few minutes, he began to report his findings, "They move with military precision. Either they are prior military, or they have been really well trained."

"Mercenaries maybe?" George put in.

"Or active military," Brandi muttered.

"Could be," Phil confirmed. "Their uniforms are just standard black fatigues with no insignia. They also have Kevlar helmets and shooting goggles. They are carrying M-4 assault rifles. Also, most of them are carrying side arms."

"Can you tell what kind?" Joe asked.

"Maybe," Phil replied as he zoomed in and enhanced the footage further. "It looks like probably Glocks. I can't tell exactly what model."

"Well at least they aren't Desert Eagles," Joe said with relief. Agent Wallace gave him a quizzical look. "Assassins carry Desert Eagles," he explained. She still looked confused.

"And they aren't Berettas," George added. "So it isn't an active military unit."

"And probably not a foreign power," Joe said. "Most countries don't use M-4s."

"So we are looking for an American mercenary or private security company," Brandi summed up. "Too bad we can't narrow it down any further."

"Maybe we can," Agent Wallace murmured. "Can you zoom in on that guy's forearm?" she asked Phil.

Phil zoomed in on the kidnapper that she had pointed out. "It looks like he has a tattoo," he said after a moment. "Good catch."

"Can you see what it is?" Joe asked eagerly.

"Not right now," Phil replied. "It is pretty blurry. It will take me quite a while to clean it up enough to see what it is."

"Okay," Joe replied. "What about the plane."

"Let's see," Phil said as he fast forwarded the footage so that he could see the plane. "It appears to be a converted 747," he said after a few moments.

"I told you it looked like a 747!" Brandi exclaimed.

"Yes you did," Joe agreed. "How would you convert a 747 into a VTOL?" he asked.

"It wouldn't be easy and it would be extremely expensive," Phil answered. "But basically you would have to add rear wings and motors and make it so that all of the engines could swivel into a vertical position for take-off and landing."

"Cross reference registered owners of 747 jets with private military companies," Joe ordered. "Let's see if any of them recently underwent a makeover. And find out who that tattoo belongs to."

"I'll get right on it," Phil replied as he bent over his keyboard and began to type furiously.

"Now what?" Agent Wallace wanted to know as the group stepped away to give Phil space to work.

"Now we wait," Joe sighed. "We have nothing more that we can do until Phil finds something."

"I get that the VP has a lot of power with the Network," Agent Wallace mused, "but why exactly did they take him? What were they trying to accomplish? It's been two days and we have no idea what they are planning. For all we know, the whole Network has been compromised and we would never know."

"I can't say how," Joe replied, "but we would know if something was happening with the Network." Just then his phone rang. Joe glanced at the caller ID and saw that it was the Gray Man was calling. "Yes, sir?" he answered. "Please tell me that you have more information." He listened for a moment and his face went white. "Are you sure?" Another moment passed. "Yes, sir."

Joe ended the call and tucked his phone back in his pocket. With his voice shaking, he said, "Well, we know why they took the vice president."


	7. Chapter 7

**A/N: I'm sorry that it took me so long to post the next chapter. I hit a bit of a writer's block and was feeling very unmotivated. Anyway, here it is. Enjoy!**

"What happened?" Brandi asked hesitantly.

"The Evansville field office was attacked about an hour ago. There were no survivors," was Joe's shocking answer.

"What?!" Brandi exclaimed.

"It looks like they are using the vice president to get the locations of field offices so that they can wipe them out," Joe stated.

"That's insane," Agent Wallace said. "What now?"

"We head to Evansville," Joe answered. "Maybe they left more clues there." He motioned Agent Luck over. After he had explained what had happened he said, "stay here and man the mobile command station with Phil. We will be back as soon as we are done processing the scene in Evansville. Send Sage and Eric out to the chopper so they can go with us."

"Yes, sir," Agent Luck replied with a snappy salute.

"Let's go," Joe ordered as he started out of the lobby. He walked quickly out to where the large helicopter rested on the front lawn of the hotel.

"Shouldn't we warn the Chicago field office in case they go there?" Brandi asked her brother as they climbed into the chopper.

"The Gray Man told me that he ordered a complete lockdown of all Network facilities nationwide," Joe answered. "Nobody will be able to get in, let alone attack it."

"Okay, good," Brandi breathed a sigh of relief.

"Yeah," Joe agreed. "Everybody buckled in?"

"Yes, sir," Agents Jacobs, Jameson, and Wallace and George answered.

Joe quickly ran through the preflight checklist on the large helicopter and a few minutes later they were airborne. A short time later, Joe brought the helicopter to a hover over a nondescript commercial building in Evansville.

"Is that it?" Agent Wallace asked dubiously. "It looks kind of small."

"That's it," Joe confirmed. "The Evansville field office was not very large. There were only half a dozen agents working here." He lowered the chopper onto the helicopter pad that covered the roof of the building and powered down the aircraft. "Let's go." The group hopped out of the helicopter. Joe led the way to a door on the roof a short ways from their helicopter. "Do not worry about surveillance footage," Joe instructed. "They took the recording equipment here as well. We will just have to search for any physical evidence that points the way to the murderers." Joe opened the door and they climbed down the stairs into the building.

As they stepped out of the staircase onto the main floor, a hush fell over the team. "This was an absolute slaughter," Agent Wallace said quietly. The field office was in complete shambles. The bodies had already been removed, but there was blood everywhere and the walls and desks were riddled with bullet holes. Bullet casings littered the floor along with various items of office equipment.

"At least it won't take long to search," Eric tried to lighten the mood. "I think my house is larger than this building."

"It is pretty small," Joe agreed as they began to spread out to search the office. He bent down and picked up a bullet casing. ".223," he called to the others. "It looks like M-4s again."

"And Glocks," Sage added, holding up a 9mm shell.

"So it's the same guys," Agent Wallace decided.

"Agreed," Joe said.

The team continued to search the office. Brandi reached the closet that served as the office's armory. "They never even had a chance to return fire," she said sadly, pointing to a bloody handprint on the door below the keypad. The pad itself was clean, with no indication that it had been opened.

"We still need something else," Joe said. "We haven't found anything that we didn't already know."

"How did they get in?" George said as she examined the front door. "They didn't force the lock." She opened the door and looked at the keypad outside. "No sign of tampering on the keypad either."

"The VP probably gave them the entry code when he gave them the location," Brandi said bitterly. "Obviously he couldn't hold out under questioning."

"Keep in mind that they have 150 hostages to use as leverage," Joe reminded her. "The VP giving up this office might be the only thing keeping Frank and Nancy alive."

"We still don't have anything new to go on," Sage spoke up.

"What about this?" Eric said, pointing to the floor.

"What do you have?" Joe asked, hurrying over.

"I think that it's chewing tobacco," Eric told him, showing him a small puddle of brown goo.

"I think you're right," Joe said excitedly as he pulled an evidence vial out of his pocket. He scraped the puddle into the vial and placed the top on the container. He handed the vial to Eric. "You and Sage get this back to the lab and see if they can pull DNA."

"Ummm, how are we supposed to get there?" Sage asked.

"Rent a plane," Joe answered. "Make sure it's the fastest one that they have."

"How are we supposed to get to the airport?"

Joe looked at a rack on the wall. "Here you go," he said, throwing Sage a set of keys off of the rack. "These should do the trick. It looks like there's a Network Mercedes outside with your name on it. Now get moving."

"Yes, sir," Sage and Eric answered as they hurried out the front door. A few moments later, the team left inside heard the car start up and drive away.

"Now what?" Agent Wallace asked.

"Now I am going to call Phil and see if he has had any luck with that tattoo," Joe answered as he pulled out his cellphone. He dialed the number and listened to it ring.

"I was just getting ready to call you," Phil said when he answered the phone.

"I take it that means that you have news?"

"I do," Phil answered. "I found out who the tattoo belongs to and you are never going to believe this!"


	8. Chapter 8

**A/N: Someone pointed out in there review that I made a major typo involving gun types in Chapter 7. I appreciate you pointing that out, and I have fixed it. Enjoy Chapter 8.**

"How are you feeling?" Nancy asked her husband, her voice full of concern.

"I'll live," Frank said, grimacing as he cradled his broken wrist. Frank had unsuccessfully tried to fight their kidnappers and in the scuffle they had managed to break his wrist and smash his emergency beacon watch.

"I wish I could have another crack at these guys," Agent Finnegan said from Frank's other side. It turned out that the man that had given Frank the uneasy feeling when they had checked into the hotel was actually one of the Secret Service agents assigned to protect the vice president. He had helped Frank fight the kidnappers but all he had received for his trouble was a nasty bump on the head.

"I don't think that you would be able to do much," Nancy said wryly. "I think that you have a concussion."

"I could take them," Agent Finnegan joked,

"And maybe after that, I could beat them in an arm-wrestling contest," Frank added sarcastically. At that, the group chuckled. "Ouch," Frank winced after a moment. "Even laughing makes it hurt."

Nancy, Frank, and Agent Finnegan were locked in the basement of an old warehouse, along with most of the other 150 hostages. Unfortunately, the basement had been fortified with bars on the windows and heavy steel doors. Several other Secret Service agents were also gathered close to Frank and Nancy.

"Do you have any idea who these guys are?" Nancy asked, trying to take Frank's mind off of his injured wrist.

"Mercenaries would be my guess," said Agent Finnegan.

"Well paid ones," Frank agreed.

"What do they want?"

"Obviously it's something with the VP," Agent Finnegan answered. "I just wish that I knew what."

"If they weren't keeping the VP and his wife separate," Frank said, "we could just ask them."

"Well the good news is that they have kept their identity hidden," one of the other agents spoke up.

"How is that good?" the hotel clerk asked.

"It means that they might let us go," the agent answered. "If they had let us see their faces, then I would be worried because that usually means that they aren't worried about us being able to identify them because they are going to kill us."

"I guess we can be thankful for small favors," Frank said wryly.

"We still need to get out of here," Agent Finnegan cautioned.

"How do you suggest that we do that?" Nancy asked. "In case you haven't noticed, we are locked in here pretty securely."

"I was only half kidding about jumping the guards," Finnegan answered.

"Look what happened last time you tried that," Nancy shot back. "And now there are a lot of innocent hostages that could get hurt in the process."

"That's probably why they took so many hostages," Frank added bitterly.

"But we have to do something!"

"I think the best thing we can do is to sit, not piss them off, and wait for the rescuers," Nancy said. "I'm sure with the VP missing, every agency in the government is out looking for us."

"Then why haven't they found us?" Agent Finnegan shot back. "It's been two days already."

"I'm sure it's just a matter of time," Nancy assured him. "With this many people, it will be hard to keep us hidden forever."

"Not to mention that giant of a plane that they brought us in on," Frank added. "There are only so many places to hide a monster like that."

"I suppose you're right," Agent Finnegan agreed reluctantly. "I just wish that we had a couple of guns or something."

"If we had a couple of guns," Frank joked, "we would be home already."

Just then the sound of the heavy steel door at the top of the stairs clanging open echoed through the basement. A moment later several of the mercenaries descended the stairs, their M-4 rifles ready to repel any attacks. Two other men followed them, holding large bags.

"Here's your supper," one of the men said as he threw the bags on the floor. "Enjoy," he sneered as they ascended the stairs. Another moment later and the door clanged shut.

As the hostages converged on the bags, Nancy said to Frank, "I am going to go get you something to eat." When her husband did not respond, she looked over at him. His face was pale and he sat there with his mouth open but no sound escaping. "What's wrong?" she asked, her detective instincts on alarm.

"I know who these people are," Frank finally answered. "And what's more, I know what they want!"


End file.
